emily19 - When buying an apartment, realtors take the same 3-5% commission. And they always start with five. And if you don't pay, there is no deal. If you want to know more about realtor fees in michigan go to https://www.fastexpert.com/blog/realtor-commission-michigan/. A person buying an apartment usually never involves a realtor on purpose. But due to the fact that they duplicate the owner's listings and it's hard to find without intermediaries, then the buyer only gets to the listings from intermediaries.

zoe0 - If you are in other cities, look for similar sites with apartments from landlords. Mostly you will end up with realtors. The realtor's job is to keep the landlord and the buyer from meeting directly.